Flypast on 75th anniversary of US bomber crash

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

Thousands of people cheered a flypast honouring 10 airmen who died when their plane crashed in a park 75 years ago.

The US bomber came down in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield on 22 February 1944, killing everyone on board.

Relatives of the aircrew and thousands of people from across Britain paid their respects as the planes roared over the memorial at about 08:45 GMT. As the flypast took place wreaths were laid at the graves of three of the American airmen who died in the crash.

Three of the 10 crew of the B-17 Flying Fortress, Mi Amigo, are interred at Cambridge American Cemetery. The headstones of Staff Sergeant Harry W Estabrooks, Sergeant Maurice D Robbins and Sergeant Charles H Tuttle were dressed on Friday with sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-47323045

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My dad was an eyewitness to this plane crash back in 1944, when he was a teenager. Brilliant to see the US servicemen who lost their lives being honoured.

[NurseJackie]

1. Thanks for sharing that!

I hope the hosts agree that any post with news about efforts to honor our fallen heroes is one of national interest.

[FuzzyRabbit]

2. T_i_B, thanks for posting this.

[okaawhatever]

3. Thank you for this. nt

[Princess Turandot]

4. If folks haven't done so, the article is worth reading..

I had read about this story last month. This came about due to the chance meeting of a local man named Tony Foulds and a BBC presenter named Dan Walker.

When he was 8 y.o., Foulds had also seen the plane crash, because he was in the park with a bunch of other kids. He believes that the pilot chose not to make a landing attempt in the open area, because of the children that were there, thus saving Mr Foulds' and the others' lives. He's been tending to their little memorial/marker for years. (Based on eyewitness reports, the pilot, Lt John Kriegshauser, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for minimizing loss of life.)

He told Walker his story, and then expressed his wish that the servicemen receive an honor in the form of a fly-over for the 75th anniversary. (While the article doesn't quite say this, Mr. Foulds is in his 80's with Parkinson's, so he will not likely be around for too many more milestones.)

Without knowing quite what to do, Walker got on it. His tweet-stream on this is also very heartwarming. The easy to read version is here:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1080424842921414656.html